Dr. R.

Eswar
Assistant Professor
Department of Civil Engineering and
Interdisciplinary Program on Climate Studies
Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay

Introduction to RS and EMR

Disclaimer
• Some of the figures/animations used in these slides are from standard
textbooks/published journal papers.
• These are used only for educational purposes and I do not intend any
copyright infringement.

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Learning Objectives
• Get introduced to RS and associated terminology (especially optical and
thermal RS).
• Understand the basic physics behind RS.
• Understand various RS datasets and explore them.
• Different applications of Remote Sensing.

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Text books
• Jensen, J. R. (2007), Remote sensing of the environment: An earth resource perspective,
Second edition, Pearson

• Lillesand, T. M., Kiefer, R. W. and Chipman, J. W. (2008), Remote sensing and image
interpretation, Sixth or Seventh edition, Wiley

• Rees, W. G. (2012), Physical Principles of Remote Sensing, Third Edition, Cambridge

University Press

• Joseph, G. and Jeganathan, C. (2018), Fundamentals of Remote Sensing, Third Edition,

Universities Press
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What is Remote Sensing?
In simple words, Remote Sensing is a technology in which we
obtain information about some feature or phenomenon through
analysis of data obtained from a device that is not in physical
contact with the feature or phenomenon under consideration

RS is a way of data acquisition.

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Remote Sensing in nature
• Humans – we see, hear, smell and sense through our skin
• Bats – Find obstacles using soundwaves

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Remote Sensing System

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Advantages of Remote Sensing
• Non-contact and non-intrusive
• Repeating nature
• Synoptic view
• Global/regional coverage
• Can ‘see’ and obtain information in portions where humans
cannot see.

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RS System: Medium
• Electro magnetic Radiation (e.g. Visible Light)
• Gravity (e.g. as used in GRACE satellite mission)
• Sound waves (e.g. SONAR)

Courtesy: Wikipedia

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Electromagnetic radiation

c = νλ
E = hν = hc/λ
where, c is speed of light (3 × 108 ms-1)
ν is the frequency (Hz)
λ is the wavelength (m)
E is the energy (J)
h is the Planck’s constant (6.626 × 10-34 J s)
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Electromagnetic Spectrum

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Electromagnetic Spectrum for RS of Earth
Name of EMR portion Wavelength range (μm)
Visible 0.4 - 0.7 Commonly used
Near Infrared 0.7 – 1.4 units of wavelength
Shortwave Infrared 1.4 - 3
in RS:
Midwave Infrared 3-8
• nm (10–9 m)
Longwave Infrared Beyond 8
• μm (10–6 m)
• cm (10–2 m)
Microwave portion of EMR Frequency (GHz) Wavelength (cm)
P 0.3 – 1 30 – 100
L 1–2 15 – 30
S 2–4 7.5 – 15
C 4–8 3.8 – 7.5
X 8 – 12.5 2.4 – 3.8
Ku 12.5 – 18 1.7 – 2.4
K 18 – 26.5 1.1 – 1.7
Ka 26.5 – 40 0.75 – 1.1 14
Sub classification of EMR
Visible Portion of EMR Wavelength range (μm)
Red 0.6 - 0.7
Green 0.5 – 0.6
Blue 0.4 – 0.5

LWIR portion of EMR Wavelength range (μm)

Thermal Infrared (TIR) 8 - 14
Far infrared 14 and beyond (typically till 100)

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